Tricks and Constellations
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: Kakashi trying to learn how to deal with having twin teenage girls.


"Akiko!" Kakashi called from the living room where he was cleaning his daughter's weapons for her. He couldn't leave it up to her, she was so careless with them. Even if she did have her mother's fighting skills, she should still take care of her weapons. Kakashi frowned at how dull some of them had become.

Her and her sister, Misaki, were almost polar opposites. The girls were as in sync as twins could be, having the same thoughts and opinions, but still managed to have different personalities. It was almost as if the gods had just made copies of Sakura and him. Akiko was like her mother, used her strength and medical ninjutsu. She was incredibly intelligent and was quickly catching up to her mother's abilities. She preferred working at the hospital instead of going on missions. She had her mother's temper and loud voice. She was always moving, busy doing something whether it was studying her medical books, cleaning or spending time with her friends. She had even dyed her hair pink and cut it short to match her mother's when she picked up medical ninjutsu. Kakashi was always surprised how much she resembled Sakura from when she was younger.

Whereas, Misaki was his mini-me. The girl still had jade green eyes that matched her sister's, but her hair was a striking silver that flowed past her waist. She preferred ninjutsu, haven even learned the chidori from her father and then bettered it. She used the twins' own ninken pack more than Akiko, though Akiko still loved the dogs to death and played with them. She was a great strategist and cunning. She was sarcastic and usually solitary. She liked reading – though Kakashi refused to let her read his Icha Icha – and had picked up her father's habit of hiding in random places in the village to read in peace. She had the same friends her sister did, but would usually have to be dragged out of the house to socialize.

Kakashi looked up from the kunai he was polishing when he heard a bedroom door close and feet pad across the floor. He met his teenage daughter's eyes and held back a laugh.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Yes, Daddy?"

Kakashi sighed and put the blade down on the table. "Misaki, I called Akiko."

The girl laughed and waved her hand. "It _is_ me, Daddy! _I'm_ Akiko."

Kakashi didn't even spare her glance as he started packing away the weapons. "Misaki, I know it's you."

"No, it's _Akiko_. How can you not even know your own daughter, old man?" she argued with him, crossing her arms over her chest.

 _Old man?_ Yup, that was definitely Misaki. Kakashi stood up from the couch and walked over to Misaki. He stared at her, not saying anything and watched as she shifted nervously under his gaze.

It only took a minute and she broke. She dropped her jutsu and her hair went from the short pink back to its normal long silver. She looked at him incredulously. "How do you always know? We're identical besides our hair!"

Kakashi laughed. The twins were always switching places, or at least trying to. They used to do it a lot more when they were little before Akiko changed her hair. They managed to fool most people, but they could never trick their own parents and it annoyed the hell out of them.

"Misaki, I'm your _father_. I can tell my own daughters apart, no matter how _old_ I get." Kakashi rolled his eyes at her, ruffling her hair and making her glare at him further. "Now, go get your sister. She needs to put her weapons away."

Misaki's eyes widened a fraction and she glanced back to her room. She opened her mouth to say something, but Kakashi cut her off and narrowed his eyes. "What? What is it?"

"Uh, Akiko is…" Misaki trailed off looking to her side nervously, probably trying to come up with a story.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Misaki, where is your sister? Is this why you were pretending to be her? Covering for her?"

"Well, you wouldn't let her go out this late!" Misaki cried at him defensively with her hands out. "I was just being a good sister! She really likes Yuri!"

Kakashi's mind racked for that name, but out of all the girls' friends it wasn't ringing a bell. "Yuri? Who's Yuri?"

Misaki stuffed her hands in her pockets and rocked back on the balls of her feet. She sighed and answered reluctantly. She hated rating out Akiko. "Just this civilian girl. Akiko met her at the market."

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow at her, telling her that wasn't enough information. "She's really nice. I've met her and I like her. You and Mom will too!"

"That doesn't matter," Kakashi told her with a sigh, heading for his room to slip on his mask. He never wore it in the house, but still did when he went out. Misaki followed after him worriedly even as he brushed passed her to the front door.

" _Dad_!"

"You know where she is, right? If you just take me to her, then you'll save both of us a lot of time." Kakashi opened the door and looked at Misaki expectantly.

Misaki groaned but went with him out the door. She told him they were probably on Hokage Mountain and tried to argue with him all the way there. She was never ending in his ear as they ran. She must have tried to get him to turn around at least ten times.

"Misaki, you know the rules." Kakashi told her finally after she begged him not to embarrass her sister. "You can't be out late with any boys and Akiko can't be out late with any girls."

Misaki pouted but didn't argue any farther. Kakashi didn't really care if the girls dated. It had taken him some time, but he eventually accepted that they were growing up. He tried not to be more strict with Misaki just because she dated guys and Akiko _swung the other way_. It was hard though, because Misaki was the only one who could get pregnant and Kakashi _knew how guys thought_. She had made it easier for him, though, when she started seeing Shou, Shikamaru and Ino's son. He knew the boy and was comforted that his parents raised him to respect women. The boy was also smart enough to know Kakashi would kill him if he didn't, which was _also a comfort_.

When they finally found Akiko, they were surprised to find her sleeping. She was laid out on a picnic blanket with a similarly sleeping girl lying on her chest. There was a basket and candles near her feet. Misaki sported a wide grin beside him and pointed happily at them. Kakashi wondered if she was fighting back a squeal. "Daddy, look! Aren't they cute? How could you be mad at that? Damn, I wish I had a camera."

Kakashi sighed beside her and fought down his own smile. _He was supposed to be mad._ He walked over to them, making sure he wasn't too loud so he didn't startle them. He didn't recognize the girl, but she did look a little familiar. He must've seen her hanging around Akiko before. Her hair was curly and short. She had freckles across her face and Akiko probably towered at least five inches over her. _Dammit, they did look cute._

He almost didn't want to wake them, but told himself he had to. He leaned down and shook Akiko's shoulder – the one Yuri wasn't sleeping on. Akiko immediately woke up when he touched her, her shinobi reflexes kicking in. She had a kunai in her hand in an instant that Kakashi didn't even know where she pulled from. Her arm wrapped protectively around Yuri, but besides that she didn't move.

When her eyes met Kakashi's though, they widened and she set the kunai down on the ground. She smiled nervously up at him. "H-Hey, Dad. Did you come up here to check out the stars too? They're beautiful, right?" She looked up at the sky with a deep sigh. "I've been studying them all night, completely determined and dedicated to find all of the constellations."

Misaki snickered behind him and Kakashi rolled his eyes at her. _So, both of the girls had inherited his sense of humor?_ Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her, "Yeah? How were you doing that with your eyes closed?"

"Training," she answered immediately with seriousness. The girl in her arms continued to sleep peacefully, unbothered by the conversation going around her. "It takes even greater skill that way. I close my eyes and try to sense them with my chakra. You wouldn't understand, Dad. It takes _great_ chakra control, even beyond Mom's."

Misaki's snickers turned into laughter. Misaki told her breathless between laughs, "T-That doesn't e-even make sense, Kiko."

Akiko glanced at her with a smile and then back to her father. Her smile fell when Kakashi stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Akiko, wake up your girlfriend. We'll walk her home and then you can go explain to your mother where you were tonight."

Akiko's eyes widened and he was pretty sure he saw true terror there at the mention of her mother. _Why did they always find Sakura more intimidating?_ "But Dad, Mom's at work! She has the night shift tonight."

Kakashi smiled down at her, crinkling his eyes. "Yup. So, she's probably already not in a good mood."

"But –"

"And you're grounded," Kakashi added in a sing song voice.

Akiko grumbled, but didn't let her dread show as she woke up Yuri. The girl blinked lazily up at her with a smile and then looked around. When her eyes landed on Kakashi, she scrambled to her feet and bowed her head respectfully. "Kakashi-sama."

Kakashi waved his hand with a smile. "No, none of that. I'm not Hokage anymore. Just Hatake-san."

The girl nodded and proceeded to apologize about how late it was. She helped clean up with Akiko, telling him it was her fault because she'd convince Akiko to stay longer and look at the stars. But Akiko just argued, saying it was _her_ fault because she'd fallen asleep. They bickered back and forth on the way to Yuri's house, trying to pin the blame on themselves.

But it didn't stop Yuri from apologizing again to Kakashi when they dropped her off at her house. Kakashi just smiled at her and told her it was alright, before bidding her a goodnight. She really was a sweet girl. She was polite and respectful, if not a little shy. Kakashi decided he like her, but he would tell that to Akiko when she wasn't in trouble. He didn't want her to think she was off of the hook.

Akiko's feet got slower as they neared the hospital and Misaki hooked their arms to gently drag her along. Akiko complained along the way about her impending death and talked over her funeral details with Misaki. Misaki nodded along with her and gave her own input every now and then. Saying _red roses were a must, but she thought adding pink ones would clash with Akiko's hair_ /

Kakashi tried not to laugh, knowing it was probably what they wanted. To get him to ease up and let it go. He almost wanted to, too, since it wasn't _that_ late and the girls hadn't been _doing anything_. But he couldn't keep it from Sakura. Even if he wanted to, she'd find out somehow like she always did and kill them all from hiding it from her. Beside she always told him he was too soft on twins. _Which he was not._ He could show them discipline.

When they reached the hospital, Akiko gave one last hopeful look to Kakashi. He nodded his head towards the doors and she sighed dejectedly. Then she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She looked to Misaki and asked with serious eyes, "Coming with?"

"Of course," Misaki answered her without a beat. The girls walked through the doors with determined but fearful faces. Kakashi chuckled as he leaned against the wall to wait. _They acted like they were going into battle..._


End file.
